Michael Kors | Source: Life
Michael Kors Seeks to Raise $792.3 Million in U.S. IPO (Bloomberg)
“Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., the luxury-clothing company, is seeking to raise as much as $792.3 million in a U.S. initial public offering as the company’s founder and the biggest investor trim their stakes… Michael Kors, the designer who founded the company in 1981, is planning to cut his stake as retailers of luxury goods outperform mid-priced department stores and discounters this year.”
Gucci sales not slowing yet, has plan B ready (Reuters)
“Luxury brand Gucci has not seen any impact on its business from global economic woes but it would be prepared to react quickly and cut costs if sales slowed, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview. Patrizio di Marco told Le Figaro that Gucci, part of French luxury and retail group PPR, had a ‘Plan B’ that could see it delaying store improvement work while sticking to its store opening programme.”
U.S. retailers tailor fashions to Asian tastes (LA Times)
“As the U.S. market continues to sputter and China’s continues to boom, U.S. retailers are updating business plans to include the world’s second-largest economy as well as the rest of growing Asia. Just as Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Apple have erected temples of capitalism in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, Western apparel makers are infusing their clothing lines with Asian sensibilities in look, feel and size.”
Future Classic (WSJ)
“At the house of Roger Vivier, the buckle reigns supreme… The buckle, which has adorned Vivier shoes and handbags for more than four decades, is a signature that you recognize without realizing that you have… But Bruno Frisoni, the dashing, bespectacled and asparagus-slim Frenchman who is artistic director of the label, has quietly been masterminding another house signature: the Prismick.”
A glint in his tie (FT)
“‘Clothes maketh the man,’ goes the cliché: but what exactly do they maketh of him? What, for example, to make of the landslide of lads in spangly sweaters at the autumn/winter Prada show?… For many men the latter might seem the most likely answer, except for the fact that those metallic sweaters are currently hitting shop floors and selling out.”